NRG Bluewater foreign vessel use ‘Jones Act compliant’

NRG Bluewater Holdings has been given the green light by the US Customs and Border Protection agency for the use of a foreign jack-up vessel off the coast of New Jersey and Delaware for the installation of two MET towers.

Having negotiated a long-term power purchase agreement with utility Delmarva Power, NRG Bluewater has since been granted two leases of submerged lands on the Outer Continental Shelf by the Minerals Management Service.

NRG Bluewater intends to construct a MET on each lease block at, approximately 16 and 14 nautical miles off the coast of New Jersey and Delaware, respectively.

According to the US Jones Act, unless a special waiver is granted cargo can only be carried between two U.S. points on vessels that are U.S. owned and crewed, and which have been built in U.S. shipyards.

However, the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency has granted Bluewater permission to use a foreign installation vessel at the construction sites. According to a CBP ruling, Bluewater will remain Jones Act compliant by having the components shipped to site on a U.S.-flag coastwise-qualified barge, towed by a U.S.-flag coastwise-qualified tug.

The ruling confirms that the installation will remain Jones Act compliant, so long as the foreign-flagged construction vessel does not carry any passengers (only crew) and that it is waiting at the construction site, having arrived from foreign shores.

Having been anchored to site, or having placed its legs in the seabed (depending on the type of vessel), neither the vessel nor crew will be allowed to move from the site until the installation has been completed. Once construction of the first Met tower has been complete, the vessel may move to the second site, to which components will have been shipped from US shore using a US-flagged ship.

To date, NRG Bluewater is the only wind energy developer to have a signed and approved offshore wind PPA in the United States. Among other projects, Bluewater is developing offshore wind parks off the coast of Delaware and New Jersey.

Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy consortium established

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and the governors of 10 East Coast have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish an Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy Consortium to promote the efficient, orderly, and responsible development of wind resources on the Outer Continental Shelf.

The signing of the MoU involved the governors of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina.

Salazar also announced the establishment of a new regional renewable energy office to coordinate and appropriately expedite the development of wind, solar and other renewable energy resources on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf. The office will be located in Virginia. 

The development has emerged at a stage when several wind energy projects for the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf have been proposed for East Coast states.

Together, the department and the Atlantic governors will use this agreement to facilitate federal-state cooperation for commercial wind development through collaborative efforts on issues of mutual interest.

The consortium will develop an action plan that sets forth priorities, goals, specific recommendations and steps for achieving the objectives outlined in the agreement.

The Interior’s new Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will oversee the development of wind and other renewable energy resources on the Outer Continental Shelf. The Interior Department will continue to work with local, state, tribal and federal stakeholders to facilitate the commercial leasing process for offshore renewable energy development through inter-governmental task forces.

Task forces have been formally established with Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Virginia, Delaware, and Maryland, and are in process for New York, South Carolina, and Florida.

Eurelectric and EWEA call for structural change

The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) and the Association For The Electricity Industry in Europe (Eurelectric) issued a joint declaration, calling for a “truly European approach” to help achieve large scale deployment of renewable energy, including wind power, by 2020.

The joint declaration is addressed to the European Commission, member states, and regulators.

The declaration stresses the importance of linking the 10-Year Network Development Plan drawn up by European grid operators (ENTSO-E) with EU Member States’ roadmaps for the development of renewable energy, due to be published later this month.

In terms of grid planning, the EWEA and Eurelectric claim that with the large scale integration of renewable energy sources, the European grids are facing “enormous challenges” to meet the 2020 targets. As such, the bodies note that they will have to undergo a fundamental structural change.

The declaration states: “The exceptionally short timeframe until 2020 makes it crucial to increase the sense of urgency among all key stakeholders and to take important actions today.”

The declaration requests ENTSO-E to include the following elements in its revision of its 10 Year Development Plan, due in June 2010:

• As soon as they are published, National Renewable Action Plans (NREAPs) must be incorporated into the current pilot TYNDP. The EU 2020 targets must not be undermined by inadequate grid enhancements projected in the TYNDP.
• Outline a clear set of priority projects together with a traceable timetable in order to convert the TYNDP from a mere forecast document into a concrete implementation plan.
• Enhance the TYNDP from being a compilation of National Plans to a Pan-European vision for planning grid infrastructure in line with long-term EU policy targets.

Iberdrola to invest €9b during the 2010-2012 period

Spain’s Iberdrola Renovables plans to invest €9 billion over the 2010-2012 period to attain installed capacity of 16,000 MW at the end of the period, involving the installation of around 1,000 MW per year in the U.S.

The company’s growth in this three-year period will come mainly from the US, where it will invest €4.9 billion.

Iberdrola has marked 21% of its total planned investment for the U.K., 11% for Spain and 13% for the rest of the world.

For the three-year period till 2012, Iberdrola projects operating earnings to rise by 15%-20% per year. The company plans to add a further 1,750 MW of installed capacity this year, reaching 12,500 MW.

In the next few years, growth will focus mainly on the United States, where it is already the second-largest wind power operator with installed capacity of 3,827 MW, located across 23 states, plus a further 300 MW currently under development. The stimulus grants approved by the US government for renewable energy will underpin the company’s growth in this market until at least 2012.

In addition to the US market, Iberdrola highlighted that offshore wind power, especially in the UK, will also be its growth driver in the next few years.

At the start of 2010, the company created an offshore business division in Scotland to channel the development of the large volume of marine wind power projects awarded to the company. These amount to around 10,000 MW worldwide and will be added gradually to its project pipeline.

Specifically, in partnership with Vattenfall, Iberdrola Renovables has obtained the rights to build one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms in the UK (7,200 MW.

Furthermore, the company has another 2,300 MW under development in the UK, most notably the 500 MW West of Duddon Sands facility (developed together with Dong), construction of which will begin in 2012. These offshore projects come on the heels of others under development in a number of areas in Europe (northern Europe and Spain), with an additional 2,500 MW.

The company currently has total assets of close to €23 billion and a 27.9% leverage ratio.

Siemens to deliver 80 wind turbines to EnBW’s Baltic 2 farm

Siemens Energy will supply wind turbines to EnBW Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg’s EnBW Erneuerbare Energien for its offshore wind farm EnBW Baltic 2.

The two companies have signed a contract for the supply of 80 wind turbines each with a capacity of 3.6 MW and a rotor diameter of 120 metres.

After Baltic 1, Baltic 2 is the second offshore project to be jointly implemented by EnBW and Siemens in the Baltic Sea.

EnBW Baltic 2 will be approximately six times bigger than EnBW Baltic 1, said EnBW’s chief technical officer and Member of Management Board Hans-Josef Zimmer.

The farm is located approximately 32 kilometers north of the island of Rügen in the western Baltic and will have a total capacity of 288 MW. EnBW Baltic 2 is scheduled to come on line in 2013 and its first maritime civil works are scheduled to commence as early as 2012.

The offshore wind farm will generate 1,200 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually.

EnBW is planning to build a total of four offshore wind farms with a combined capacity of approximately 1,200 megawatts in the Baltic and North Sea.

Dong bags EIB loan for London Array

Energy group Dong Energy has signed a £250 million loan facility with the European Investment Bank (EIB). The loan is part of the financing for the construction of the London Array offshore wind farm.

The loan is guaranteed by the Danish Export Credit Agency (Eksport Kredit Fonden, EKF) on the basis of deliveries from Siemens Wind Power and Per Aarsleff.

The financing is in line with Dong Energy’s strategy to diversify its funding on various loan types and to fund projects out of the parent company. In all, the Danish company’s goal is to reach at least 3,000 MW of wind turbine capacity by 2020.

The first phase of the London Array wind farm has a capacity of 630 MW and is expected to begin operation in 2012 and be able to provide renewable energy for the London Olympics.

Dong Energy owns 50% of the farm with E.ON (30%) and Masdar (20%) holding the remaining shares.

RWE, Stadtwerke München and Siemens to build offshore wind farm

Energy giants RWE Innogy and Siemens along with Stadtwerke München (SWM - Munich Municipal Utility) have entered into a joint venture to build the €2billion offshore wind farm Gwynt y Môr in Liverpool Bay, around 18 kilometres off the North Wales coast.

RWE Innogy will hold 60% stake in the 576 MW farm while Stadtwerke München’s stake would be 30% and Siemens 10%. The total investment includes the grid connection to the coast.

The Gwynt y Môr farm will be adjacent to two operational RWE wind farms, the 60-MW North Hoyle and 90- MW Rhyl Flats projects.

Work will commence towards the end of 2011 to erect the first foundations for a total of 160 wind turbines each with a capacity of 3.6MW. In its first phase of expansion, the wind farm is planned to generate electricity as early as 2013.

Project completion is scheduled for 2014. From then onwards it is forecast to generate around 1,950 gigawatt hours of electricity annually.

This is the fifth offshore wind farm that RWE will have both developed and constructed.

For this project, Siemens Energy will receive the contract for supply, erection and maintenance of the wind turbines, and for electrical connection of the Gwynt y Môr wind farm to the mainland. The value of the contract for Siemens is valued at around €1.2 billion.

Siemens will also be responsible for connecting the wind turbines to the grid, which entails the delivery of two turnkey offshore transformer platforms. Using high-voltage sea cables, power will be transmitted to the Welsh town of St. Asaph, from where inland distribution will take place. Siemens will also be responsible for maintenance of the wind farm for five years, with the option of an extension for a further seven years.

Wind could bring 250,000 jobs to Europe by 2020: EWEA 

Three key areas - offshore wind, electricity grids and the training and education of more engineers and technical staff - in the European wind energy sector can create over 250,000 new jobs in Europe in the next decade, according to the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA).

The European Wind Energy Association expects strong growth in wind energy employment in Europe over the coming years to 280,000 by 2015 and 450,000 by 2020. That’s on average, 450 new European wind energy jobs per week over the next decade, said Christian Kjaer, Chief executive of the EWEA.

The coming years will see the development of a new offshore wind industry. Existing and planned European offshore wind projects would, if implemented, supply 10% of Europe's electricity. Employment in the offshore wind sector is expected to exceed onshore by 2025, and by 2030, over 60% of the total employment in wind energy is expected to be in offshore wind energy. 

By the end of 2009, the wind energy sector employed 192,000 people in Europe.

Alstom launches new 3MW turbine

French power generation company Alstom has introduced its 3MW ECO 110 wind turbine specifically designed to ensure the highest energy production on low to medium wind speed sites throughout Europe and worldwide.

The ECO 110 features a 110m-rotor diameter, one of the largest rotors available today for onshore applications, according to the company.

The ECO 110 is the second model of Alstom’s new 3MW ECO 100 platform and the first ECO 110 unit was installed in autumn 2009 at the Loma Viso II wind farm in Albacete, Spain.

According to Alstom, the turbine has been designed to reduce  installation, operation and maintenance costs. Its modular design allows the use of industry standard transport and installation equipment. The ergonomic design of its nacelle leaves room to perform easy maintenance of all components, and allows direct access from the nacelle to the hub.

AMSC, Hyundai expand partnership

American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC) has expanded its strategic alliance with South Korea-based Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) to jointly develop 5 MW full conversion wind turbine primarily for use in the burgeoning offshore wind industry.

HHI will purchase power electronic components for the turbines from AMSC and commence the volume production of the turbines by the end of 2011. HHI will market, manufacture and sell the turbines.

In October 2008, AMSC Windtec licensed 1.65 and 2 MW doubly-fed induction wind turbine designs to HHI whose production the latter has begun and has ordered nearly 80 sets of electrical control systems and power electronic components from AMSC for this platform.

HHI also has ordered an initial 10 wind turbine electrical control systems from AMSC for use in its first 2 MW wind turbines. HHI plans to commission its first 2 MW wind turbines this month and plans to enter volume production of these wind turbines by the end of this year.

Vestas launches new turbine in China

Wind turbine manufacturer, Vestas, has introduced its V112-3.0 MW turbine in China.

The V112-3.0 MW offshore model is optimised for offshore conditions.

Vestas highlighted that the turbine offers an exceptional rotor-to-generator ratio for greater efficiency. It features an extended production envelope, and delivers optimal output in average wind speeds up to 9.5 m/s. The V112-3.0 MW will be class individually IECS certified for each separate offshore project.

Vestas, which has its largest integrated manufacturing complex globally situated in Tianjin, its China headquarters in Beijing, and which is currently commissioning a new foundry in Xuzhou, said it is fully capable of immediately delivering on the first offshore projects in China.